by Shae Mills
Talon set his body in motion, catching up with her effortlessly. He cruised above her for a few moments and then dove in front of her. Chelan stopped quickly, her eyes wide with fright, and instantly, she kicked off the bottom and surfaced. Talon followed, breaking the surface and splashing her forcefully. Chelan choked on the wave that hit her, and her arms flailed out for support, grasping Talon’s powerful shoulders. “Damn you,” she spluttered.
Talon laughed. “You are very good, little one.”
Chelan shoved him away. “Stay back,” she ordered.
Talon grinned. “As you wish, but I have seen all once again. Any further attempts to hide your full beauty from me are of no consequence.”
Chelan skimmed the water with her palm and splashed his impish face. Then she turned away and headed for the pool’s edge. Suddenly, she shrieked as his hard body coiled up and around hers from the depths below. His massive hands surrounded her slender waist and pulled her under. Chelan kicked at him—she had not taken in enough air. She strained toward the surface, and finally, he released her.
Chelan surfaced and gasped, her eyes watering. Talon came up in front of her, and she swung at him, barely missing him. “You bastard! You nearly drowned me.” And she struck out at him again.
“Calm down!” he demanded as he captured her wrists and held them behind her back.
Chelan was forced to press into him for support. “Let go of me!” she yelled, and Talon complied. She scrambled for the edge and heaved herself out. Grabbing her gown, she bolted for the shower room.
Talon shot out of the water and ran after her, catching her just before she reached the doorway.
“I hate you!” she shouted venomously.
Talon recoiled, his smiled fading. “Careful, little one.”
Chelan hugged her gown as she backed up. Her eyes watered, rendering Talon motionless. “Why do you destroy everything I love?” she cried. “Why couldn’t you let me swim in peace?”
Talon watched as she trembled violently in the cold. He went to speak, but suddenly, his own veins ran gelid. He whirled from her, grabbed his uniform, and left.
Chelan panted for air and finally slumped to the ground. “Shit,” she muttered. All Lethiason’s words filtered through her thoughts, and she winced. She genuinely loathed Talon. How could she ever accept him.
She hung her head as her mind replayed the latest incident. Then she stopped breathing. She stared at the floor in front of her. Talon had heated the pool for her. He had allowed her to strip unobserved. And though she had registered his touch as a violation, he had undoubtedly simply tried to play with her.
Chelan rubbed at her brow in agitation. “Damn,” she mumbled, and she pushed herself up. She wiped the tangled web of hair from her face and slipped into her gown. Trudging heavily, she returned to the pool’s edge. There she looked into the pristine water. Suddenly, images of Korba pierced through her thoughts. She could see him swimming lap after lap, his powerful, bronze body surging through the blue water. Chelan sighed. Korba had played with her exactly as Talon had.
Suddenly, she felt weak. She sat down and stared into the depths, a profound loneliness devouring her. She missed Korba’s touch and his love so much her body ached. Then she shivered at the deep, warm voice, so familiar that it robbed her of all logical thought.
“I am sorry, little one,” Talon said. “I did not mean to ruin your swim.”
Chelan turned and looked up. The Emperor stood there in his ebony uniform, his long blue-black hair framing his handsome face. His luminescent eyes travelled right beneath her flesh and into her soul. If she did not know better, she could have sworn she was looking up at Korba himself. Suddenly, she wanted to run to him, to throw her arms around his neck, to press into his powerful body and be embraced by his protective arms. But he was not Korba, and her heart withered to dust.
Awkwardly, she pushed herself to her feet. But before she could speak, Talon turned away and disappeared into the Command Center. Chelan sprinted after him, but he was gone. She tried to catch her breath, her confusion causing her head to spin. But she did not have time to sort through her dilemma as the main doors parted. Lethiason stepped through and then halted in his tracks. He smiled and nodded graciously.
Chelan nodded back. “Good afternoon,” she acknowledged. Lethiason walked down into the Center, and Chelan noticed a flight helmet in the crook of his arm. He set it on the panels and then began removing his shroud. Chelan stepped toward him and watched wide-eyed at the profusion of weapons that he removed from his body and set down alongside his shroud and flight gear. “Where have you been?” she asked.
Lethiason’s smile broadened. “Training fields.” He nodded to her. “And you?”
Chelan looked down at her wet, tangled hair. “Oh—finally took a dip in the pool.”
Lethiason chuckled. “I see you are still with us. Talon must have warmed it considerably.”
Chelan smiled. “Yes, he did.”
“See? He will provide all. You have but to ask.”
Chelan ignored his comment and nodded in the direction of the armament. “Talon has forbidden me access to weapons.”
Lethiason looked at them as if he hadn’t noticed them till now. He shrugged. “Well, then, don’t touch them.”
Chelan actually burst out laughing. “You are going to get me in trouble.”
Lethiason shook his head. “Only if you try to use them on me.”
“I won’t. I promise.” Chelan cocked her head as she scanned the weaponry. “Fremma used to take me with him to the training fields.”
Lethiason’s eyes widened. “I am surprised. The fields are inhospitable, to say the least. And that says nothing of the danger from the munitions.”
“I feared Ticees more. Fremma chanced it.”
“Why didn’t you strike up other relationships? Surely, you desired at least some female companionship.”
Chelan went to speak, but then her jaw snapped shut. She furrowed her brow as she pondered her past. “I only wanted to be with my men. I thrived on their attention.”
Lethiason squinted at her. “You could have banished your loneliness by befriending others, male or female.”
Chelan shrugged. “I was not interested in the company of other men. I mean, I worked with many within these walls, but while in private, I only wanted to be with Korba and Fremma. I spent a lot of time in the Palace gardens and had many acquaintances there, but they never became close friends. It is hard to strike up relationships like that when you are at the top. There are protocol barriers.” She glanced up at Lethiason’s inquisitive features. “I suppose there were a few women who would have become closer to me… but…”
Lethiason nodded. “But what?”
Chelan decided to be candid. “But I was plagued by my Earth values. I wanted Korba and Fremma exclusively, and I always viewed the other women as threats.”
“You did not trust your men? The galaxy was well aware of Korba’s adherence to monogamy even before you. And even I knew of Fremma’s commitment to you.”
“I did trust them, beyond a shadow of a doubt. It is just that there was not a woman around who could hide her desire for Korba. I saw it in their eyes all the time. I admit to my petty weakness in the matter. I simply did not want to deal with the situation. Your culture—” Chelan corrected herself. “Their culture was one of absolute sexual freedom. I knew that at some point, someone would press boundaries, and I did not want to bring women into my personal sphere and risk witnessing that.”
Lethiason rubbed at his jaw. “I see your point. But it did cause you to be unnecessarily isolated.”
“I know, but it was not long after settling into Palace life that Ticees became my constant companion. He kept me more than amply occupied when I was not working with Salizar, the head of our air recon.”
Lethiason took a seat in the main chair. “Do you want to talk about Ticees?”
Chelan felt as though she had been delivered a punch to the midsectio
n. She wavered and then sat down across from him. “I have never talked about Ticees before,” she whispered. “Not even with my men.”
“Maybe it is about time you did.”
“No. What Ticees did to me was insignificant when compared to what Talon has done to me.”
Lethiason winced. “I am afraid this wasn’t the direction I wanted this conversation to go.”
“What did you expect? Ticees is but a dark cloud in my past. Ultimately, he hurt no one but me.”
Lethiason hunched forward. “That is not true, Chelan. He hurt all those who loved you. And as far as Talon is concerned, both Korba and Dar killed billions to obtain the Empire, many their own.”
Chelan looked down and wrung her hands. Dar pierced through her mind: how he had eradicated Fremma’s men. “I know,” she acknowledged weakly. “But, as shallow as it sounds, they did not kill anyone that I loved.”
“That hardly justifies their actions when you dare to condemn Talon for the same act. He sought the throne. He felt he could do better. You know the Iceanean society’s structure—more precisely, its military structure. Do you think that Dar or Korba would have negotiated and allowed Talon to succeed out of the goodness of their hearts? What if you had come to the Empire now and loved Talon? How would you have viewed Korba if he took over? Yet they are still the same men.”
“Talon terrorized me. Korba never did.”
Lethiason looked at her skeptically. “Come on. Your recollection of the past is tainted by your love and your loss.”
Chelan shook her head. “No, there were times when Korba was harsh with his lessons, but they pale in comparison. Besides, we can talk of the morality of war for an eternity. No matter what the Warlords did on the battlefield, they never came close to Talon’s brutality to me. He murdered my child.”
Lethiason shuddered. “That too was an act of war.”
“Bullshit, and you know it! He keeps me penned up here like some lab rat, the mate of the former Emperor… another casualty of the same war. Yet he disposes of a Warlord’s child like so much trash. Where was the threat from a baby? Where is the logic in that?”
“There is, actually, a big difference between the two actions.”
Chelan became very still. “Maybe you had better explain it to me.”
“Not now.”
Chelan’s brows rose. “Now seems to be the perfect time.”
Lethiason’s features turned to stone. “I said, not now,” he ground out. “We need to talk about the future. We need to discuss the new Empire. And to understand it, you must understand Talon.”
Chelan sighed. “So you keep saying.”
Lethiason watched her closely. “To accept the new Empire, you must accept Talon.”
Chelan’s fingers began to tap on the arm of the chair nervously. “I think you missed the part of the conversation where I told you he murdered everyone I ever loved.”
“It is done!” Lethiason boomed. “They are gone! They are dead! It is time to move forward!”
Chelan was stunned by his explosion. Nothing had made sense before, but now things were so confounding she was struck dumb. She could only stare at him in bewilderment.
Lethiason took a deep breath, capping his frustration. “Chelan, Talon keeps you. He houses you in his chambers, he—”
“These are Korba’s chambers!”
“Korba is dead! What part of that message have you missed?”
Chelan set her jaw. “I want out of here. I want to go into the general population.”
Lethiason shook his head. “You would not survive. You belong here.”
Chelan banged her fist down and then bolted to her feet. “This is all so absurd! Talon has been hell-bent on eradicating everything to do with the old Empire. Well, I am the old Empire! And since I am no longer a bargaining tool, it makes no sense to keep me alive or caged here. I do not want to be his pet!”
Lethiason rose to face her. “You are not his pet! He keeps you as his woman.”
Chelan’s jaw dropped. “His woman? I do not want to be anything to that beast. I would rather be dead!”
“Chelan! Be reasonable. He is not forcing your acceptance. He is patient. He—”
“He is crazy if he thinks I will ever accept him!” Chelan whirled away from the Commander, her emotions and thoughts in chaos. Then she stopped suddenly. She twisted back to face him. “Does your society Let?”
Lethiason nearly staggered over the abrupt change in topic. “Ah, well, kind of,” he uttered cautiously.
Chelan walked up to him and faced him boldly. “You are his First Officer. You hold much power. You admit your past feelings for me…”
Lethiason shook his head and grabbed his shroud, donning it quickly. But Chelan pushed him back into his chair. “You are all that connects me to my past and my loves,” she said. “I want to be yours. Become Letted to me, and spare me once and for all from that demon.”
Lethiason rose slowly, his azure eyes ablaze. He stared down at her for the longest time, his thoughts tumbling. “It cannot be,” he uttered through clenched teeth.
“Says who?” she countered.
Lethiason struggled with himself. As if fighting some invisible force, he reached ever so slowly for her face, his heart striving for the unattainable. His fingers traced down her cheek and along her jaw, where they lingered. He stared at her lips, and his mouth watered.
Suddenly, the main doors opened, and Chelan felt her heart stop. Lethiason whirled to face Talon.
The Emperor instantly froze, his eyes darting between the two before him. “What goes on here?” he growled.
Chelan watched as Lethiason straightened, expertly containing himself as only an Imperial warrior could. His voice was low and steady. “I am attempting to teach the young lady the ways of the new Empire.” He smiled slyly as he glanced at her. “But she has a nasty habit of ignoring my words of wisdom.”
Talon stared at the inert woman and then studied his Second-in-Command. “Hmmm… something I myself have noted on many an occasion. Leave us for now.”
Lethiason nodded and gathered up his weapons and flight gear. He smiled graciously at Chelan and then nodded again to Talon. “My Lord.” And he left.
Chelan turned abruptly and hustled into her room. Then she gasped, startled by the hand that seized her hair and yanked her back. Chelan twisted and slammed her fists into Talon’s chest just as he wrenched her head back while crushing her body into him. “You are hurting me!” she yelped with anger.
Talon ran his nose along her neck and then straightened, glaring down into her fiery eyes. He stopped, seeming to struggle for both air and control. “I smell his scent!”
Chelan flinched at the venom in his tone. She looked up into his eyes, the blue flame in them fueled by wrath. She knew better than to cross him right now. An escalation in his temper at this point would only work to her detriment. “Let me go,” she ordered.
Talon released her, flinging her backward, hard. Chelan staggered to maintain her footing.
“You do not use my men!” he boomed.
“I was not using him!” she shouted back, her self-constraint leaving her in a whoosh. “I am no longer a captive. I want to be free to live my life with whom I choose!”
Talon strode up to her, his eyes cutting. “You leave Lethiason alone, or I will pull him from your service.”
Chelan squared herself. “He is the only person in this whole damn Empire whom I actually care about. You can try to take him from me, but I will find him.”
Talon grabbed her arm and wrenched her forward, his face mere centimeters from hers. “I will keep you contained here, your freedom stripped forever.”
“You can try. But for whatever perverted reason, you require that I learn about and integrate into your world. Therefore, you must send someone to me.”
“I will send another woman!”
Chelan grinned slyly. “You do not know me very well, my Lord. I would rather kill another woman than cooperate with her.
You send me Lethiason, or I will withdraw from you forever.”
“Do not issue ultimatums to me, little one, or I will execute him in front of you simply to make my point!”
Chelan gasped. “But he is your best.”
“He is expendable!”
Chelan tore her arm away from him and backed up. “You are a beast,” she uttered between clenched teeth.
Talon straightened and took several deep breaths. “You behave, little one. Your actions may very well leave you with blood on your hands.” And he whirled out of the room in a flurry of black.
Chelan stood there, her fists clenching spasmodically. “Damn you!” she yelled at the door. But suddenly, she became still. She smoothed her dress and straightened her hair. As calmly as she could, she walked out into the Command Center and up to the main doors. They parted obediently for her, and she headed straight for Dar’s quarters. There she sprinted to the chest, and as quickly as she could, she retrieved her uniform and knives.
Bundling them up as tight as possible in the shroud, she tucked them under her arm and returned to the Command Center. After entering uninspected, she slumped against the wall with relief. Then she skipped down to the hidden compartment and expertly punched in the code. Chelan stuffed it with the clothing, carefully laying the knives out on top. Then she shut the compartment and closed her eyes. “Your days are numbered, Talon. Mark my words,” she hissed.
Chapter 13
Chelan spent the next few uneasy days alone, unwilling to seek out Lethiason lest she get him killed. In addition, Talon was conspicuously absent. Once again, she found herself being buffeted by the winds of confusion. But this time around, the accompanying loneliness was welcome. It gave her the solitude she needed to plan.
To keep herself partially occupied, she plugged away at the computers, chipping her way through the information on the new Empire. Even though she knew that any knowledge she accumulated would work to her advantage, she had done this very same thing for the old Empire, and it had fallen. Putting forth the effort, this time, was onerous to say the least.
And there was one other issue that plagued her more and more as time went on: her emotional well-being around the loss of her son. When she had lost Shan’s baby, the mental anguish had been nearly insurmountable. But with this loss, things were different—oddly different. Though she thought of Dar’s child often, every time her emotions began to flare, it was as though her mind involuntarily shut down. She could remember the whole ordeal plainly—her intense terror when she realized she was losing him—but now she felt numbed.